In these financially trying times, being able to protect ourselves from life’s many uncertainties while providing for our families means more than ever.
Since 1908, Great Eastern has made it the brand’s purpose to protect its customers from all of life’s twists and turns, so they can focus on the things that make their life journey meaningful, whether it be pursuing their lifelong dreams or simply living healthier and better.
This commitment has helped the brand become the preferred life and health insurer for generations of Malaysians for 114 years.
In conjunction with its 114th anniversary, Great Eastern made the shift to a new brand promise to help its customers achieve their goals by protecting them against life’s uncertainties and empowering their financial freedom.
By enabling Malaysians to “Reach for Great”, Great Eastern begins a new chapter to re-establish itself as the insurer of choice that will be there for life.
To support its new brand promise, Great Eastern rolled out a suite of life and health insurance plans and promotions to provide its customers with financial security while lessening their financial burden.
Critical illness protection at 50% off
GREAT Critical Care Relief is one of the new health insurance plans launched in conjunction with Great Eastern’s new brand promise of “Reach for Great”.
It provides essential protection against critical illness and hospitalisation with guaranteed money back at maturity.
Understanding how important it is to help Malaysians obtain adequate protection from critical illness, Great Eastern offers the plan with 50% off the premium rate until the plan matures.
This means the policyholder only needs to pay half the premium rate throughout the total payment term which ends at age 80 next birthday.
The 50% offer is available for a limited time only until 31 December 2022.
Protection from five prevalent critical illnesses and hospitalisation
GREAT Critical Care Relief is positioned at Malaysians who are looking for a first critical illness plan or to supplement the coverage of an existing hospitalisation plan.
It protects against five prevalent critical illnesses that are common in the country – cancer, heart attack, stroke, kidney failure and other serious coronary artery diseases.
To compound the protection provided, it also covers against prolonged hospitalisation with major surgery of at least 21 days, and ICU admission with a minimum of 7 days.
With the recent pandemic fresh in our minds, the plan additionally protects against hospitalisation or ICU admission due to any unknown diseases that may emerge in the future.
Upon diagnosis of any one of these critical illnesses or hospitalisation, GREAT Critical Care Relief pays out 100% of the basic sum assured or the total premiums paid, whichever is higher.
Unlike some critical illness plans, the payout is in one lump sum, ensuring financial protection is provided when it is needed most.
Once the plan matures at age 80 next birthday, the basic sum assured or the total premiums paid, whichever is higher, is returned to the policyholder.
Because anything can happen in life, GREAT Critical Care Relief also provides a death benefit with financial support for the family should the unexpected occur.
Critical illness protection as an essential part of healthcare planning
Understanding the needs of its customers at every stage of their life journey is at the heart of Great Eastern’s insight-driven approach to providing healthcare financial planning. For critical illness, the major areas of concern for many customers are medical bills, loss of income, and the financial and emotional impact on family, with some of the insights being:
- 2 in 5 people had no income for 12 months during their recovery period;
- 1 in 2 were worried about the costs of managing their illness and the impact on family finances; and
- 1 in 2 did not consider buying a critical illness plan, with price cited as the key barrier.
Great Eastern Life Assurance (M) Bhd chief executive officer Dato Koh Yaw Hui said, “Many people think a hospitalisation plan, which covers medical or hospital bills, is sufficient in one’s healthcare financial planning.”
Great Eastern Life Assurance (M) Bhd chief executive officer Dato Koh Yaw Hui
“When critical illness strikes, there are other additional as well as ongoing living expenses to be managed, and compounded by the potential loss of income, will add stress to the family’s finances and require an adjustment in the lifestyle they are accustomed to.”
“Adding an essential critical care plan to one’s healthcare planning can help provide that added financial support and peace of mind.”
Great Eastern introduces new brand promise
Unveiled during its 114th anniversary celebrations, Great Eastern’s new brand promise of “Reach for Great” positions it as a partner and enabler of its customers’ ambitions and aspirations on their life journey.
Dato Koh Yaw Hui said, “Putting our customers at the heart of all that we do has been integral to our success for 114 years.”
“By leveraging the insight that Great is defined uniquely by each customer and comes in many forms regardless of life stage or socioeconomic status, we will re-establish Great Eastern as the insurer of choice that will be there for life to enable our customers to achieve their goals and Reach for Great.”
To communicate the new brand promise to its customers in a relevant and compelling way, Great Eastern introduced an advertising campaign that captures the diversity of its customers’ goals and shows how the brand is able to help them Reach for Great through its combination of heritage, expertise and inspiration.
With its customer-first approach, Great Eastern will continue to invest in its 22,000-strong agency force to improve its digital technology infrastructure and enhance its end-to-end customer experience and engagement.
It will also continue to elevate its agents’ professionalism and competency to respond to its customers’ changing needs and expectations.
Responding to key insights, the brand is constantly evolving its insurance solutions to help its customers close the protection gap in critical illness, healthcare, long-term disability, retirement and wealth accumulation.
This includes the SmartMedic Shield campaign which aims to help Malaysians cope with rising healthcare costs in the future.
Under this campaign, Great Eastern provides its customers with free additional medical coverage up to RM4 million in total, with the offer available only until 31 December 2022.
For more information, visit Great Eastern.
Images: Provided
